Jeff Chalmers

Jeff’s Story

Dr. Chalmers completed his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree in 1998 from the University of Toledo. He subsequently completed a Pharm.D. degree through the University of Florida in 2004. Dr. Chalmers has worked in a variety of pharmacy roles over the last 17 years, including staff pharmacist, critical care, pharmacy management, and pharmacy informatics. He is a member of the Pharmacy Informatics and Technology Section of ASHP, as well as the Vice Chair of the Clinical Information Systems Section Advisory Group.

Facility

Cleveland Clinic is a 12 hospital health-system  with locations in Northeast Ohio, Florida, Las Vegas, NV, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Abu Dhabi, UAE. The system is anchored by the main campus in downtown Cleveland, a 1400+ bed academic medical center, but also includes regional hospitals that serve all patient populations in our area. The health system accounts for 5.9 million total outpatient visits, and over 150,000 inpatient admissions annually.

Significant Projects

Dr. Chalmers has many projects that he has been working on lately. Some of the projects include, upgrading of our EHR to a newer version, implementation of IV room workflow management software, upgrading automated dispensing cabinets to a newer platform, implementation of a new ambulatory pharmacy information system, as well as continued implementation of CPOE in ambulatory infusion areas. He has also been exploring ways to meaningfully display the costs of medications within our EHR, both during order entry and retrospectively.

All of the projects involve intense workflow review and revision when needed, and careful testing and training as you would expect. Dr. Chalmers has particularly enjoyed the IV room workflow management software implementation, as it relied heavily on the operational and clinical teams working very closely with the informatics team to assure they were leveraging system benefits, without impeding workflow and throughput.

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

“I always remind newer informatics pharmacists to remember that they are a pharmacist first, as that is where our true value lies. We should always be capable of translating technology benefits to pharmacy workflows where the tools will be utilized most effectively. If we focus too much on the technology or the clinical workflow independently, then there are often challenges during implementation.”

ASHP’s Value to Members

“The information that is available to you through published documents or simply through networking connections is invaluable. You rarely if ever are the first to embark on a particular project or the first to try to solve a problem. Utilizing the collective knowledge of the ASHP community can be the difference between success and failure in many instances.”

“ASHP has always and continues to advocate for pharmacists to ensure we continue to be valued members of the health care system. Whether it is through key initiatives like pharmacist provider status, or providing insight through published literature in AJHP, the organization has continually served as the voice of health system pharmacy to those within and outside of the profession.”